# The KDE Menu Editor Handbook

## Introduction

&kmenuedit; allows editing of &kde; application launchers: &kickoff;, classic &kmenu; or Lancelot Launcher.

&kmenuedit; can be started either by &RMB; clicking the application launcher button on the panel and choosing Edit Applications..., or by typing `kmenuedit` in the &krunner; line.

&kmenuedit; allows you to:

- View and edit the current application launcher (&kickoff;, classic menu or Lancelot Launcher)

- Cut, Copy and Paste menu items

- Create and delete submenus

## Adding a Menu Entry

In this example, we will add &firefox; to the Internet submenu.

To start off, we need to open &kmenuedit;, so &RMB; on the application launcher menu, click Edit Applications... to start &kmenuedit;. After &kmenuedit; has started, select Internet as shown in picture below. Select Internet Select Internet

Once you have selected Internet, click on File New Item..., opening the New Item dialog, as shown below. Type the name of the program you want to add, in this case, type `firefox`. New Item dialog The New Item dialog.

Press return, and you should see something like the picture below in the main window. New Item The new item created.

Now lets fill in the Description:, in this case type `Web Browser`.

The description and name will be displayed on the application launcher as Web Browser (Firefox).

We will need to fill in the executable name in the Command: field, in this instance we will type ``firefox``.

Following the command, you can have several place holders which will be replaced with actual values when the program is run:

- %f - a single file name
- %F - a list of files; use for applications that can open several local files at once
- %u - a single &URL;
- %U - a list of &URL;s
- %d - the folder of a file to open
- %D - a list of folders
- %i - the icon
- %m - the mini icon
- %c - the caption

For example: if you want to firefox to start your web browsing at www.kde.org - instead of `firefox` you would type `firefox %u www.kde.org`.

Most applications accept additional options ⪚ the name of a defined profile like &konqueror; or &konsole;. To see all options for an application launch ```applicationname`` `--help`` in &konsole;.

We would like to have a more creative icon, so we will click the generic icon sitting beside Name: (note, the default icon may be blank, in which case click in the area to the right of the name entry box.) It will bring the Select Icon dialog which will let us choose the new icon, as shown below. Select Icon dialog The Select Icon dialog.

We choose the firefox icon from the list, and press return. Your finished screen should probably look something like the screenshot below. Done screenshot This is what the completed menu item should looks like.

Click File Save, wait for the Updating System Configuration dialog to get finished, you should find &firefox; in the application launcher Internet submenu!

## Using &kmenuedit;

The left application panel shows the application launcher structure. When you browse items in the left panel, the right panel shows detailed information for the highlighted menu item.

### General tab

Name:

- This is the name of your program as it appears in the application launcher menu. It can be different from the real executable name. For instance the name of `mc` executable is "Midnight Commander".

Description:

- The description will be displayed together with the name in the application launcher. This is entirely optional.

Comment:

- Describe the program in greater detail in this field. This is entirely optional.

Command:

- This is the name of the executable program. Make sure that you have permission to run the program.

Enable launch feedback

- If this box is checked, this will display feedback when an application is started.

Place in system tray

- When checked, the application's icon will show up in the panel system tray. You will then be able to hide or show the application by clicking on the system tray icon. Clicking on it using the &RMB; will allow also you to undock, or quit the application.

Only show in &kde;

- When checked, the application entry will only be visible in all &kde; application launchers but not in other desktops environments.

### Advanced tab

Work path:

- Specify the work path of the program. This will be the current path when the program launches. It does not need to be the same as the executable location.

Run in terminal

- You must check this if your program requires terminal emulator in order to run. This mainly applies to console applications.

Terminal options:

- Put all terminal options in this field.

Run as a different user

- If you want to run this program as a different user (not you), check this checkbox, and provide the username in the Username: field.

Current shortcut key:

- You can assign a special keyboard shortcut to launch your program.

  Click the None button to the right of the Current shortcut key: checkbox.

  The button text will change to Input... and you can press the key combination on your keyboard that you want to be assigned to your program.

  You can reset the shortcut to None by using this button: .

  Don't forget to save your setting by clicking the toolbar Save icon or using the File Save menu item.

## Menu Reference

&Ctrl;N File New Item...

- Adds new menu item.

File New Submenu...

- Adds new submenu.

File New Separator

- Adds a new separator to the menu.

&Ctrl;S File Save

- Saves the menu

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

- Quits &kmenuedit;.

&Ctrl;X Edit Cut

- Cuts the current menu item to the clipboard. If you want to move menu item, you should first cut it to the clipboard, move to the destination place using the left panel, and use the Paste function to paste the menu item from the clipboard.

&Ctrl;C Edit Copy

- Copies the current menu item to the clipboard. You can later use the Paste function to paste the copied menu itemfrom the clipboard to its destination. You can paste the same item many times.

&Ctrl;V Edit Paste

- Paste menu item from the clipboard to currently selected place in the Main menu. You must first use Cut or Copy before you can Paste.

Del Edit Delete

- Deletes currently selected menu item.

Edit Restore to System Menu

- This will restore the application launcher as it was as default and remove all your custom settings. A message box will ask you if you really want to do that.

Settings Show Toolbar

- Show or hide the toolbar

Settings Configure Shortcuts...

- Customize the keyboard shortcuts

Settings Configure Toolbars...

- Customize the toolbar icons.

Settings Configure &kde; Menu Editor...

- Open the Menu Editor settings dialog.

&help.menu.documentation;

## Credits and License

&kmenuedit;

Program copyright © 2002, &Raffaele.Sandrini;

Contributors:

- &Matthias.Elter; &Matthias.Elter.mail; - Original Author

- &Matthias.Ettrich; &Matthias.Ettrich.mail;

- &Daniel.M.Duley; &Daniel.M.Duley.mail;

- &Preston.Brown; &Preston.Brown.mail;

Documentation copyright © 2000 &Milos.Prudek;

Documentation copyright © 2008 &Anne-Marie.Mahfouf;

Updated for &kde; 3.0 by &Lauri.Watts; &Lauri.Watts.mail; 2002

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Glossary

Terminal emulator

Terminal emulator is simply a windowed shell; this is known as command line window in some other environments. If you want to use the shell, you should know at least a few of the system-level commands for your operating system.

Applet

A small application that occupies very little memory and screen space, and at the same time gives you some useful information or provides a control shortcut. For instance the Clock applet shows current time and date (and even a month diary if you click it), and System Monitor applet shows how busy your machine currently is in real-time.

Legacy Application

An X-window application which was not written with &kde; in mind. Such applications run fine in &kde;. However, they are not warned automatically when you shut down your &kde; session. You therefore must not forget to save documents open in these applications before you log out from &kde;.

Additionally, many of these applications do not support copying and pasting from &kde; compliant applications. &Netscape; 4.x browser is a prominent example of such application

Some GNOME applications may provide limited interoperability with the &kde;.

.
Console Application

Application originally written for non-graphic, text oriented environment. Such applications run fine in &kde;. They must run within console emulator, like &konsole;. They are not warned automatically when you shut down your &kde; session. You therefore must not forget to save documents open in these applications before you log out from the &kde;.

Console applications support copying and pasting from &kde;-compliant applications.Simply mark the text in the console application with your mouse, switch to the &kde;-compliant application and press &Ctrl; V to paste the text. If you want to copy from &kde; application to a console application, first mark the text with your mouse, press &Ctrl; C, switch to the console application and press the middle button on your mouse

If your mouse does not have a middle button, you must press left and right button at the same time. This is called middle button emulation and it must be supported by your operating system to work.

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